Concerned Citizens
by AEM1
Summary: Chapter 4 up finally! LAST CHAPTER! Hope you all enjoyed it! Josh and Toby find out a secret about CJ's boyfriend, Ben, but then must go to severe, yet strange lengths to make sure she finds out about the secret before she finds out that they know.
1. Default Chapter

A/N: Hello all! First off, I'm gonna apologize about the bit of political stuff I threw in here. What I know about politics can fit quite neatly on the head of a pin, so it probably doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense. I grabbed it from something that Josh was working on in _'Talking Points' _in season 5, cause it's around then when this story takes place... Anyway, this is my first West Wing fanfic (or rather the first one I've finished...I've written half of at least 3 more, but gotten writer's block and I've been skipping around on them, working on one, then another and going back when I think of something else and this is the first one actually I've finished, so this is the one you get), so go easy on me please. Keep the flames down to a decent temperature, but I'd like to know your honest opinion, though so review! And thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: None of these folks are mine, though how I wish they were...wait, some of 'em are mine...a lady named Lisa and some diner waitress who I don't think I gave a name too...The diner's even a real one in Washington DC, I looked it up! This is how sad my life is...

-AEM

CJ Cregg was walking through the lobby of the White House one morning when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and grinned when she saw Josh Lyman jogging towards her.

"Hey CJ" Josh caught up with her

"Mornin' Joshua"

"You're in a good mood this morning" Josh observed

"Yes I am" she grinned to herself

Josh stopped and turned to study his friend closer "Hey, what's that around your neck?"

CJ put her hand on the long beads around her neck and smiled embarrassedly "Oh, Ben gave them to me. I was helping him clean out his apartment over the weekend and he found these love beads he got in high school and he gave them to me"

"You're not wearing them to your briefings, are you?"

CJ laughed and continued walking "Are you kidding me? Leo would kill me, not to mention Toby"

"Oh yeah, they would just love that one..." grinned Josh. Suddenly, a thought entered Josh's mind and he stopped again. It took a moment for CJ to notice Josh was no longer walking beside her, but when she did, she backtracked her steps.

"Hey, Josh, what's the matter?" she asked, concernedly

"Wait, did you just say you were helping Ben clean out his apartment?"

"Yes I did" CJ had been hoping Josh would overlook that statement. She was wrong.

"Where's he going? He's not moving away so soon, is he? I mean, he's not getting transferred again"

"Uh, no, he's moving in with me" CJ said that last part quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear it

"What?" asked Josh, though he thought he knew what she had said.

CJ rubbed her hand along her neck and repeated "Ben's moving in with me. It makes more sense for him to move in with me because my apartment's bigger and..."

"Hey CJ, that's great! I didn't know you guys were that serious!" Josh said, happy for his friend.

"Yeah we are" CJ blushed uncharacteristically and continued walking.

"So are we going to be hearing wedding bells anytime soon?" Josh teased.

"Joshua!" she hit him on the arm, mortified.

"Ow!" he rubbed his arm "Hey, it was an honest question!"

"Yes, but also none of your business!"

"Oh that's nice, CJ, I thought we were friends" Josh teased again

"Josh...you know what I mean..."

"Chill out, CJ, I was only teasing" grinned Josh

"Excellent, what are we teasing CJ about this time?" Toby Ziegler joined the pair

"Ben moved in with CJ over the weekend." Josh answered

"Oh thanks, Josh, why don't we just announce it at the briefing now?" CJ remarked sarcastically.

"Well, if you want to..."

"Hey, CJ, that true?" Toby asked

"Yes."

"Is he going to propose?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Probably because that's the next step, I hear."

"Toby wouldn't know about the order of steps in a relationship since he's been known to do stuff like that backwards." Josh joked

"What is it 'Comedy Hour with Lyman' now?" glared Toby

"Hey, if I wasn't in politics, I think I'd make a pretty dammed good comedian!"

"Stick to politics, Josh."

"I'm sorry, I still don't see what my relationship with Ben has to do with either one of you." CJ said

"We want to make sure he's taking good care of you," said Josh

"What, are you my protective older brothers now?"

"Just call it 'concerned citizens'." remarked Toby with a smirk.

"Hey, Toby, senior staff in 5." Toby's assistant, Ginger, reminded as she walked by.

"Thanks, Ginger."

CJ's assistant, Carol fell into step with the three soon after "Mornin' boss,"

"How ya doin', Carol?"

"Great. Senior staff in 5 minutes and you've got a briefing immediately after."

"Oh good, you can tell the world about you and Ben, then." Josh deadpanned

"What's this?" Carol looked at her boss, amusedly

"I'll tell you later, get back to work."

"Okay." Carol smiled and walked away

"One more word out of you, Mr. Funny Pants and I'm gonna kill you." CJ threatened

"Okay." Josh laughed as Toby tried to hide a smile under his beard

"You too." CJ caught him

"What'd I do?" Toby protested

"You were there."

"Josh, you've got the thing in 5 minutes." Donna Moss, Josh's assistant said as she walked by.

"Okay, Donn...wait what?"

"Serves you right." mumbled CJ

Donna retraced her steps to the three "You have the thing in 5 minutes, Josh."

"Donna, for the love of all that is good and holy...what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm paying you back for every time you've demanded 'the thing' from me and expected me to have some ungodly idea what you're talking about, so today I'm referring to everything as 'the thing'."

"As amusing and a bit annoying as that sounds, Donna, that could get in the way of a little thing we do here called 'running the country'."

"How come it gets in the way when I do it, but when you do it, it's perfectly all right?"

"Because I said so."

"Shut up." Donna glared and began to walk away

"Wait, you never told me what I have in 5 minutes!" Josh called after her.

"Remember what Ginger and Carol just told Toby and CJ they have to do and think about it!" exclaimed Donna, without turning around.

"Well, that was a bit snippy. I haven't even done anything to her yet today." Josh remarked

"You're an idiot, Josh." Toby proclaimed

"All right then, Toby, if you're so smart, what do I have to do in 5 minutes?"

Toby closed his eyes and shook his head as if he could not believe it "Senior staff."

"Oh."

"You're an idiot, Josh."

The three then arrived at Leo's office.

"Mornin' guys, come on in." Leo mumbled. He stood with his glasses on, reading something in a file behind his desk.

"You know you have a chair there, Leo." Josh said with a grin, to which Leo ignored him.

He closed the file, took his glasses off and studied his staff briefly. "Oh, hey, CJ," he sat down in his chair, with a pointed glance at Josh "what's this I hear about..."

"My god, why does everyone in this White House feel the need to poke into my personal life?" CJ interrupted

Leo looked up at her in mild surprise "I was gonna say Sam's campaign, but if you wanna talk about something different..."

"No I don't"

"Okay. What about Sam's campaign?"

"Shouldn't you be asking me that, seeing as how I'm Sam's campaign manager?" pointed out Toby

"Okay, question's open to the floor now, does anyone know anything about Sam in the 47th?"

"He won." said Toby

"Yes, I know that part" Leo said, exasperated "I'm not that old, I'd forget all the screaming, does anyone know anything about how he's doing...how he's adjusting to the job?"

"That's not the question you asked, Leo" Toby smirked

"Say, Toby, on the way into work this morning did you spend the entire time thinking of all the ways you could give me a hard time today?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I did"

"I give up" Leo threw up his hands "It's like trying to run a 3-ring circus..."

"Someone's in a good mood this morning" Josh observed

"Yes, believe it or not, boys and girls, I'm actually in a good mood, so no one'd better spoil it" Toby warned.

"Okay, I can die now, I've seen it all" Leo remarked

"Wow, what put you into such a good mood that you can actually admit you're in a good mood, my bearded friend?" asked CJ

"Well," Toby smiled secretively "Andy brought over the twins last night and...Molly saw me, she smiled at me and said 'dada'."

A brief silence followed this statement, but CJ broke the silence by saying "Oh my god, Toby, that's fantastic!"

"Hey, that's great, Tobe!" Josh added "I always heard that twins take longer to learn to talk because they have their own secret language that they can understand each other in, so they don't need anything else"

Everyone stared at Josh.

"I don't know," Toby shrugged "She just said 'dada'."

"Congratulations, Toby. 'Dada' was Mallory's first word too. I was so proud. Mal learned to talk young; I think she wasn't even the twins' age yet...ever since, we can't get her to shut up...anyway, Jennie always said that Mal probably didn't even know what she was saying, but I think she was just jealous that Mallory didn't say 'mama' first." put in Leo.

"What are we congratulating Toby about?" questioned a voice from the door. Leo, Toby, Josh, and CJ all turned to the door that adjoined Leo's office to the Oval Office to find President Bartlet there.

"Molly said 'dada' to Toby last night" Leo answered.

"Hey, Toby, that's fantastic!" exclaimed Bartlet and went over to clap Toby on the shoulder. "I remember when Zoey first said 'dada', proudest moment of my life..." After going on at length about this for a moment, he concluded with "So, what's going on in here?"

"Well, I hear it's supposed to be a senior staff meeting, but all they're giving me is static" Leo remarked sarcastically

"Isn't that what they usually do?" Bartlet said, with a smile.

"I was trying to get an answer on how Sam's doing in the 47th, but they keep giving me grief and a headache."

"He won." said Bartlet, smartly.

"I know that, sir," Leo rolled his eyes "I was trying to find out how he's adjusting."

"Yeah, how is he doing? Any of you talk to him?" Bartlet asked his staff and all three shook their heads.

"How come you can't answer me like that?" Leo asked.

"Due respect, he is the President, Leo" Josh smirked

"Yeah, but I can still fire your asses."

"Good point."

"Okay, I want one of you to give Sam a call sometime today and report back to me or Leo. And stop giving Leo grief, he's the one that actually runs this country. I just sit behind that big desk in there and look cute."

"Oh, but it's so much fun to harass Leo." CJ grinned.

"I could fire you for that remark, Claudia Jean." Leo tried to hide a smile.

"I know, but I say it anyway."

"So, who's calling Sam?" asked Bartlet.

"CJ. I've got an assignment for Toby and Josh." answered Leo

"Aww...I wanted to call Sam..." complained Josh.

"Suck it up." was Leo's response.

"What do you need, Leo?" asked Toby.

"I need you guys to go up to the Hill..."

"Why?" asked Josh curiously.

"Well, if you'd let me talk, I'd tell you, Josh." Leo said, exasperated

"Yessir."

"I need you guys to take some meetings on the Hill about trade bill...finding ways to keep some of the programming jobs here in the US"

"The jobs will come back, it just needs a bit of time" argued Josh

Leo rolled his eyes "I know that, it's just the Speaker of the House..."

"I talked to him. I convinced him. He said he'd get the votes"

"Yeah, and it's them who need the convincing"

"But he said he'd get the votes for us and we didn't have to do a thing" protested Josh

Leo shrugged "Things change, Josh. I'm gonna arrange some morning meetings and you'll report back to me in the afternoon."

"Okay." Josh agreed sullenly.

"Sir, that's all I have, you have anything to add?"

"No, thanks everyone" said Bartlet

"Thank you, Mr. President." They all responded in unison.

"Okay, that was a little freakish, don't do that again" warned Bartlet

"Yes sir" they all piped up

CJ, Josh and Toby were about to leave Leo's office and Bartlet was about to go back into the Oval when he suddenly stopped and turned "Hey, CJ, what's this I hear about Ben moving in with you?"

CJ gulped in surprise "Uh...excuse my asking, sir, but how did you know that?"

Bartlet grinned "I'm nosy, CJ, so I make it a point to know everything that goes on in my White House. I even have an unwilling spy named Charlie, but neither of those are why I know about that."

"Then how?"

"Because all three of you talk really loud. And make sure you take off those beads for the briefing" Bartlet answered simply and went back into the Oval Office, shutting the door behind him.

CJ glared at Toby and Josh as they left Leo's office "I'm really going to kill you guys..."

A/N: Well, thanks for reading...I've divided this story into four sections cause it was too dammed long to put into one. As I said, this is my first attempt at a West Wing fanfic. If it sucks, just tell me and I won't torture you with it anymore, I'll just try again with a new one... So, go on and press that little button on the bottom left corner of the screen, please! It won't bite, it likes you! Thanks!

-AEM


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey all! Wow, thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad that you all seem to like it so far. And don't worry, Jubie91, I've toned down the humor. Actually, it was just the first chapter that had a lot of humor, there's not as much in the rest. Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chapter. And don't forget to review! I really like knowing what you think! 

Bit of J/D hints, but not much.

Disclaimer: They're not mine, but Mommy, Mommy, they followed me home, can I keep 'em?!

Thanks for reading!

-AEM

"Donna! I'm going to the Hill!" called Josh from his office as he was trying to locate the files he would need from the piles of files messily arranged on his desk. 

Donna entered the office holding a blue file folder. She threw it in front of Josh "Here's the thing you need"

Josh looked up at her "Okay, Donna, the first time it was cute, now it's just kinda annoying,"

"Now you know how I feel," and with that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the office.

Josh looked from the retreating back of Donna to the file she had brought. He picked up the file to study it closer, then jammed it into his bag. He darted around his desk and went into the bullpen to find his assistant.

"Donna," he addressed, finding her at her desk.

She stood up and, taking the file she had been looking at, went to put it in one of the file cabinets "I already got you the file you wanted"

"That's just the thing..." Donna looked at him "...no pun intended..." Josh quickly added "...I don't see why you're getting all upset about this. You have some magic intuition that makes you know exactly what I mean when I refer to 'the thing', so it's not like it slows your work down or anything."

"That's true, Josh, but it's just the spirit of the thing..." Josh looked at her "...no pun intended...it's like you're almost abusing my powers as your assistant. You're assuming I will always know what you mean, but one day, I might not."

"I don't think so, look what you just did. I didn't even ask you for anything, but you knew exactly what I needed. It's almost like we have some freakish connection or something. You know, you said something when you were trying to worm into the campaign about being an asset. You are."

Donna smiled at what her boss had just said to her "I never saw it like that,"

"You wouldn't" was his response.

"And though you probably just said that to stop me from saying 'the thing' all day, that meant a lot to me, Josh, thank you."

"No problem. Honestly, I didn't think of that, but, hey, something good came from what I said"

"Hey, watch it, buddy, I could go back to saying 'the thing'." warned Donna

"But you wouldn't" Josh smiled and began to walk back to his office.

"I wouldn't" Donna said quietly to herself as she watched Josh go.

Josh entered his office to find Toby perched on the corner of his desk "You ready to go, yet?" Toby asked, impatiently.

"Yep" Josh answered and grabbed his bag. Toby left Josh's office, with Josh on his heels. He slammed the office door closed behind him "Donna! I'm going!" he yelled to his assistant.

"See you!" she yelled back.

Soon, Toby and Josh were out of the west wing and walking through the lobby once again.

"So how are we getting there?" Josh asked

Toby looked at him "We're walking, Josh..." he remarked sarcastically "we're driving, you idiot."

"Hey, it was an honest question," protested Josh, with a grin.

"It's still none of your business!" yelled CJ as she walked by on her way to her briefing with Carol, getting laughs from Toby and Josh

"We're taking my car" added Toby

"Why your car?" questioned Josh

"Um...I don't have a reason, so because I said so"

"Okay" Josh grinned.

A few hours later, Josh and Toby emerged from the Capitol Building. Unlike a few hours ago, neither were smiling or in a bantering mood.

"Well, that didn't go well" Josh murmured, breaking the silence that had been between them since the end of their last meeting.

"If that's not the understatement of the year..." Toby muttered darkly.

"What are we gonna do?" Josh asked

"I don't want to go back to the Leo and the President with that information"

"Neither do I, but what choice do we have?"

"We should call Leo; see if we can get some more meetings with the Republicans.

"Yeah, good idea. Damned Speaker...he said he'd be the ones doing this" Josh complained under his breath. He shook his unruly brown head "Whatever. Let's get some lunch"

"Okay. I could really go for pie right about now"

Josh and Toby got into the latter's car and Toby began driving while Josh called Leo. Josh shut his cell phone a minute later.

"Did you get the meetings?" Toby asked anxiously

"Yeah. Leo wasn't too happy, but he agreed we couldn't go to the President on what we found, so he knew we have to."

"Who are we meeting with?"

"I dunno, he said he would set some stuff up, then call back"

They arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later. Their waitress waited on them almost immediately "What'll ya have?"

Josh pondered the menu "Ah...BLT on wheat, American cheese and a Jack Daniels"

Toby raised his eyebrows "Jack Daniels when we have meetings after?"

Josh smirked and pulled something out of his pocket "Only one, my friend and...Tic Tacs" he waved the small container at Toby, who nodded his approval.

"What about you?" the waitress addressed Toby now

"I'll have a Jack Daniels too and a slice of pie"

"What kind?"

"Who cares?" Toby grabbed Josh's menu out of his hands, gave both to the waitress, and waved her away.

"Pie?" questioned Josh, with a grin "I thought you only needed pie to write."

"Helps me think too"

Josh grinned broadly "How could I forget I'm eating with the pie fiend of DC and Brooklyn."

Toby smirked as a response and glanced up as the door to the restaurant opened to admit a man and a woman and his smirk slowly fell off his face. "Josh..." he mumbled "...don't be too obvious, but look at the people who just came in to the restaurant."

Josh, whose back was to the couple, quickly glanced over his shoulder, then quickly glanced back. His eyes fell on Toby, who was looking at him, unamused "Oh, because that wasn't obvious at all." Toby remarked sarcastically.

"Who was it? I was too busy trying not to stare obviously."

"Ben." answered Toby

"Ben? Ben who?"

"Ben who?! CJ's Ben!" Toby yelled exasperatedly.

Josh casually turned to the side and leaned on the wall of the booth to look more closely at the couple "Oh yeah, you're right, it is Ben. Wonder who the lady is?" he pondered

"God, isn't it obvious, Josh, he's probably cheating on CJ..."

"Come on, Toby, you're jumping to conclusions," interrupted Josh "She's probably a business partner or someth..." Josh trailed off as they watched Ben lean over and kiss the woman passionately "...or not..."

"What. The. Hell." proclaimed Toby, defensively.

Just then, the waitress came back with their order and Josh, suddenly overcome with an idea, leaned over and confidentially asked the waitress "'Excuse me, have you ever seen those two people before?" he unobtrusively gestured to Ben and his companion.

"Yeah, they come in all the time" the waitress set a piece of apple pie in front of Toby.

Usually the sight of pie brought Toby back to his usual level of happiness, but this time, it didn't even bring a smile to his face. Falling into Josh's idea, he too leaned over and continued "Who are they?"

"Um...only know first names. Ben and Lisa. They're usually in my section. Just last week he proposed to her right here and I was their waitress." She bragged. "Gorgeous ring."

Josh had to really work hard to stop the surprise from showing on his face as Toby struggled to restrain the urge to go over and punch Ben out right then and there with the announcement of the marriage of Ben and Lisa.

"Okay. Thanks a lot." Josh tried to grin and the waitress, having been putting their order down as the conversation went on, left the table.

The two were silent as they struggled with their reactions to this news. Toby broke the silence soon, however "Okay, if he's getting married, then what the HELL is CJ!" His voice rose to the loudest it could possibly get without anyone overhearing

"The last conquest before marriage?" Josh replied, bitterly

"And what the hell's with this whole moving in thing?"

"Hell if I know." Answered Josh and Toby snorted in reply "I'm gonna kill him." Josh mumbled and stood up.

"Not if I get there first." breathed Toby, angrily, standing up as he spoke.

The two stormed over to where Ben and Lisa were sitting.

"Ben..." Josh said quietly, trying not to let all the anger that was in him show in his voice.

Ben looked up at Josh and Toby, quickly glanced from his soon-to-be-betrothed, back to Josh and Toby. His face paled "Oh hey Josh, Toby," he said nervously "Funny meeting you guys here. This is..." but he was cut off as Toby punched him.

"Hey!" exclaimed Lisa as all other actions in the diner stopped.

Josh and Toby quickly glanced at each other and the rest of the diner "Outside." Josh mumbled, his lips barely moving

"Yeah" Toby agreed and dragged Ben outside by his shirt collar, Lisa and Josh on their heels.

"Okay, I wanna know who you guys are and why the hell you're beating up my fiancee!" yelled Lisa as soon as they got outside.

Toby ignored her and instead pushed Ben into the side of the diner and pinned him there so he couldn't move "Oh, fiancee...that's interesting, because last I checked, you were dating CJ Cregg!" he yelled, his voice rising with every word

Lisa gasped and looked from Toby to Ben "What?!"

"Um..." Ben started nervously

"Oh, did we spoil your fun?" Josh asked with fake innocence in his voice

"You're dating another woman?! And the Press Secretary for the White House at that?!" Lisa asked, shocked

"Let me explain..." stuttered Ben

"Argh! Explain this!" she wrenched her engagement ring off her finger and threw it at the currently pinned down Ben and ran off

"Aww...gee...that's too bad..." Josh remarked sarcastically, watching her go "Guess you're not getting married anymore..."

"And if you're even thinking 'At least I've still got CJ, think again'" snorted Toby, pushing Ben harder against the wall

"I...I...wasn't...honest!" Ben said quickly

"Good, 'cause you don't have CJ" added Josh "And she's gonna know it..."

"...wha...what do you mean?" Ben looked from Toby to Josh

"He means that you're going to tell CJ what you've been up to" translated Toby

"Wha...um...no I'm not" Ben said, trying to show Toby and Josh he wasn't afraid of them, which, of course, he was.

"Yes you are" predicted Toby

"If you like breathing" chimed in Josh

"What?" asked a confused Ben

"Okay, listen 'cause we're only gonna say this once," said Josh "We're gonna make you a deal, which is a dammed lot more than you deserve, let me tell you. You," he stressed the word 'you' "are going to tell CJ that you were cheating."

"In return," Toby picked up "you will get to live, though you don't deserve it and I'd really like to kill you here and now"

"Well, at least for now, 'cause CJ's likely to want to kill you herself when she finds out." Josh said brightly

Ben was silent at this, suddenly unsure whether he was more scared of Josh and Toby killing him or CJ.

"The catch," Toby said "is you have until then end of the day, then we tell her"

"Then, she'll come find you to kill you," added Josh, even more brightly than before.

"Wait, what's the point of this?" asked Ben "Why are you doing this?"

"Because," answered Toby "Us telling her is the easy way out"

"And, technically speaking, this isn't any of our business, excepting the fact CJ's our friend and it'd be better if she heard it from you than from us. Then, she'll only want to kill you for cheating instead of both cheating and cowardice" added Josh

"So...you're trying to help me?" Ben asked, confusedly

"And it'll make you look like a fool" stated Toby

"Okay"

"Well, I guess that's it, then." mused Josh "Toby, drop him"

Toby let go of Ben's collar, but still kept him pinned against the wall "Remember, you hafta tell her by the end of the day or we do"

"Right."

"Wait, I've got one more thing" said Josh "Toby, move"

Toby stepped to the right from in front of Ben and Josh moved to take his place. He stepped back a little and threw a punch, which landed neatly on Ben's right eye, matching the one Toby gave him on the left. Josh glanced over at Toby, who raised his eyebrows at him

"It was my turn" Josh said innocently and Toby grinned. Josh stepped over near Toby to let Ben go.

Now that Ben was gone, along with the fun of torturing him, all the two men were left with was the fact that Ben had hurt their friend. They stood, staring at each other, not quite sure what to do.

"We never ate" Josh said, breaking the silence

"I'm not hungry anymore" mumbled Toby

"Yeah, me too" Josh realized.

As if an unspoken agreement, the two men both headed to Toby's car, leaving the diner behind. They sat in the car, but Toby broke the silence a minute later

"How're gonna know if he calls or not. We're gonna be on the Hill all afternoon, then with Leo and the President and we can't really just go up and ask her 'So, CJ, did you find out your boyfriend's cheating on you yet?'"

"Umm..." Josh thought "we need a spy. Someone who we can tell about all this, but won't tell her and can hang around CJ's office without her wondering why. Carol's definitely out. She would tell her. But who then?"

"Charlie" Toby said immediately

"Oh yeah, he has time for something like this" Josh rolled his eyes "How 'bout Will?"

"No."

"Why?"

"No."

"Okay...You got a problem with Donna?"

Toby glared at Josh as a response. Josh stared back and picked up his cell phone to dial his office number.

"Josh Lyman's office" Donna picked up a few minutes later

"Hey, it's Josh Lyman"

"Hey Josh, how's your thing going?"

"I thought you weren't doing that anymore"

"How's it going?"

"Lousy, but that's not why I called. First off, is CJ anywhere near you at this moment?"

"No, why?"

"We'll get to that in a minute. Go into my office and close the door. Talk to me from there"

"Okay..."

"And get Ryan to hang up your phone when you get to my office. Stand at the door and make sure he does it. You know how he gets sometimes"

"Okay...Josh, what's going on?"

"Tell ya in a minute. Just do it"

A few minutes later, Donna spoke "Okay, Ryan's hung up and I'm in your office. What's going on?"

Josh told her about what had happened at the diner. Donna gasped "That jackass!"

"Yeah. That's about what we said. Listen, Donna, I need you to do me a little favor..." Josh told her the plan he and Toby had made up "Will you do it?" he finished

"Of course. But how am I gonna get into CJ's office? How will they not question why I'm in there?"

"Improvise. Think of something, you always do. Say you've gotten bored without me all day or something" Josh joked and Donna laughed, all the while thinking that it had been a rather boring day without Josh. "Okay, Donna, I gotta go" Josh said, eyeing Toby's phone as it began to ring, which Josh assumed was Leo calling

"Okay. When are you getting back?"

"I dunno. Toby and I will come find you when we get back. Stay in CJ's office until we get back. Leave Ryan in charge, but make sure he doesn't do anything stupid"

"Got it. Bye"

"See ya" Josh closed his phone and turned to Toby, who was ending his own call "Who're we talking to?"

"The Speaker of the House. Find out why he's not doing what he said he was gonna do"

"Well, that just makes my day a whole lot better..." Josh remarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, sorry for the delay. Life quite insane at the moment, but I managed to find a little time to put this up today. Should I be doing something else right about now? Probably. Why am I not doing anything? I'm a bad seed. Well, not really, but anyway, here's the next chapter for your reading and reviewing pleasure. And speaking of which, REVIEW! I wanna know if it sucks too, not just if you like it. If it does, I'll pull the plug. Is anyone even reading this story?**

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Donna hung up her boss's phone. She stood there a moment to try to and regain her composure. CJ was like a sister to her and the fact that the man she loved was cheating on her behind her backpissed her off. Donnaregained her composure so she wouldn't slip up and tell CJ. Ifthat happened that would blow Josh's plan and Donna didn't want to be the cause of that.

Secretly, Donna thought CJ should know and not be handled, she never reacted well when she was handled, but on the other hand, as the cheater, Ben was the only one who had the right to tell her. Donna exited the office and made for CJ's office, only stopping at Ryan's cubicle to pass on Josh's message that he was in charge of the phones and not to do anything stupid.

"Donna!" greeted Carol

"Hey Carol!" returned Donna, unobviously glancing through the window that separated Carol's office from CJ's to see if its owner was there, which it wasn't.

"What brings you to this side of the hallway?" joked Carol "Josh need to see CJ?"

"No he's not back yet. Thing is, I have nothing to do" she leaned on some filing cabinets dramatically.

"What?"

"Josh hasn't been here all day, so I've actually been able to do some work without having to get up every five minutes to track down Josh for something or have to respond to his bellows, and ...I have nothing more to do"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you need someone to answer the phones during CJ's briefing?"

"We usually have one of the junior staffers do it"

"Can I today?"

"Are you that bored?"

"Yes"

"Wait...who's on your phones?"

"Ryan. I needed a change of scenery"

"Heya Donna. What brings you to my merry side of the bullpen?" CJ entered Carol's office. Her good mood from earlier that morning still hadn't faded away, although Donna sadly knew it wouldn't last for the rest of the day.

"Boredom. Can I do your phones during your briefing?"

"Are you that bored?"

"Yeah. Josh and Toby's meetings got extended to the afternoon and I've been able to finish all my work without Josh here to distract me"

CJ laughed "And the boy is very distracting. Sure, why not?"

"Thanks CJ" grinned Donna as CJ entered her own office. Donna turned to Carol, in time to see her pick up a few pink pieces of paper, which the former recognized as phone messages. "I'll bring those in if you want" offered Donna, wondering if the call she was waiting for was in those papers.

"Sure, thanks. I still need to look up the spelling of Kashmir for the briefing and CJ gets pissed when spelling's wrong". Carol grinned and, after handing Donna the papers, turned to her computer.

Donna walked into CJ's office and, while Carol's back was turned and CJ was intent on something on her computer, she spread out the pink phone messages in her hands, of which they were only three. Familiar with the layout of the papers, Donna could scan them quickly to discover that none of them were from Ben and continue to CJ's desk before anyone could notice that she stopped.

"CJ," Donna offered her the papers.

CJ looked up from her computer in mild surprise "Oh thanks Donna. You know, now I can see why Josh says he can't live without you"

"CJ..." Carol called from the doorway "Time for the briefing"

"Okay, thanks Carol" CJ walked out from behind her desk and hurried towards the door and the waiting Carol, only to call a "Thanks again, Donna" over her shoulder.

"No problem..." Donna said vaguely. She had a far-away look in her eyes as she repeated something quietly to herself "...Josh says he can't live without me..." the phone out in Carol's office began to ring. Donna snapped back and hurried out to Carol's office. She sat down in Carol's chair as she picked up the phone, "CJ Cregg's office..."

Josh hit the top of the door as he and Toby entered the lobby of the White House "Okay...we need to go to your office and get Bonnie or Ginger to tell Leo's office we're coming over"

"What about CJ?"

Josh stopped "Oh yeah, I forgot. Okay, let's find Donna, then we'll go see the Leo"

"Hey Josh... Hey Toby" said a new voice from somewhere near their right. Charlie Young fell into step with the two men

"Hey Charlie, what's up?" Josh greeted the young man

"Hey Charlie" echoed Toby

"President wanted to see you immediately after you get back"

"And how did you know we were back, have you been standing in the lobby for hours?" Josh asked with a grin   
"Nah, I looked out the window"

"Okay"

"What's with CJ?" Charlie asked suddenly

Toby and Josh glanced at each other. Maybe the thing they were waiting for had happened...

"Whaddya mean?" questioned Toby, nonchalantly

"When you guys came in, you asked Josh 'What about CJ?' What about CJ?"

Josh and Toby filled him in on the incident at the diner.

"Jackass. You beat him up, right?"

"Yeah" answered Toby

"Good. You know if you're ever gonna do that again, tell me. I can help you out"

"Yeah, we know, there, slugger" teased Toby, both remembering the time they had spent in a jail cell in California, accused of fighting people in a bar.

By now, they were entering Charlie's office. Charlie continued to the door that led to the Oval Office, while Josh and Toby hung back automatically at Charlie's desk. He knocked and opened the door when he heard a response "Toby and Josh are back, sir" Charlie addressed the President.

"Great, thanks Charlie. Send 'em in" they heard the President respond

Charlie closed the door, but not all the way and walked back to Toby and Josh "You can go in"

"Thanks, Charlie" said Josh

"Thanks" agreed Toby

"Hey guys, ya know if CJ finds out you beat up Ben before she gets the call, she'll kill you, right?"

"Yeah, we know" smiled Josh nervously

"Hopefully it won't come to that" Toby added as they walked into the Oval Office. Bartlet was standing before his desk openly staring at them. Wondering why the President of the United States was staring like that at them, (he usually saved these looks for when they had done something wrong, but was more amused then mad at them) Toby was the first to speak.

"Good afternoon, sir" tried Toby

"Good afternoon, Mr. President" echoed Josh

"Close the door" Bartlet said shortly and Josh obeyed. "Now," Bartlet said as Josh rejoined the group "What's this, you're beating up CJ's boyfriend?"

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, how do you know about that?" Toby asked, surprised.

Bartlet rolled his eyes "Come on now. You were talking with Charlie right outside my door"

"Oh yeah..." Josh mumbled

"So, why are you beating up Ben?"

"Past tense, we already did" corrected Josh and he and Toby proceeded to fill the President in on the goings on at the diner.

Bartlet glared as soon as they were done "Bastard..."he mumbled "I knew I didn't like him...there was just something about him..." he trailed off

"Um, sir, you never met him..." pointed out Josh, amused.

"I know. But I have an intuition about these things" he waved his hand like it was something unimportant

"Yes sir" agreed Toby, trying to hide a smile

Bartlet raised his eyebrows "Are you scoffing at me, Toby?"

Toby got his facial expressions under control "Oh no, sir, never" Toby said sarcastically

Bartlet laughed, then wrapped an arm each around both his Deputy Chief of Staff and his Communications Director "Good work, both of you, on giving that piece of slime exactly what he deserved. Now..." he lowered his voice conspiratorially "...if you want, I have access to the Secret Service, in fact, I have total control over them. I could get them to arrest him for something or even kill him, ...or, even better, I could go down to the Sit Room right now and get Fitz to order an air strike on him...or do you think that's a little over the top?"

"Just a little, sir" grinned Josh "But thanks anyway"

Bartlet smiled and clapped them each on the arm before releasing them "Okay, now get out of here"

"But, don't you want to hear about..."

"Another time" Bartlet cut Josh off "Charlie's right. If CJ finds out about what the two of you have been up to all day, you're dead meat. Get out of here, go hide in your offices, and that's an order...Charlie!" called Bartlet and that man entered

"Yes sir?" asked Charlie

"Charlie, is the briefing still on?"

"Yeah. It's nearly done now"

"The briefing?" Toby looked puzzled "I thought that it was at noon?"

"Pushed back an hour." answered Bartlet "We were waiting for your news about the thing, but you weren't back yet and the press was starting to get antsy about their deadlines"

"If you want us to get word to CJ..." started Josh

"Nah, don't worry about it" Bartlet waved his hand impatiently "It can wait until tomorrow. Now get outta here!"

Both Josh and Toby grinned at this "Thank you sir" they said. They turned to leave. Charlie followed behind them after asking the President if he needed him anymore and getting a response in the negative. Toby glanced up at the television in Charlie's office as Charlie closed the door to the Oval Office. The press briefing was indeed ending...

"CJ!" called one of the reporters, Chris "I just have one more question!"

"Shoot, Chris" responded CJ. She was still in an awesome mood. It had spilled into her briefing, making for an extra quippy briefing on her part.

"CJ, I was at the Dupont Circle Diner at lunchtime today. Toby and Josh came in and they beat up a man named..."she glanced down at her notes "...Benjamin­­ ­Dryer. I don't know why, they noticed everyone staring and brought it outside, I just wondered if you did..."

Josh and Toby exchanged horrified looks.

"Well, guys," said Charlie, who was standing on the other side of them "It was nice knowing ya"

Josh and Toby didn't stay to hear CJ's response...

Flush. And that was the sound of CJ's good mood slowly being flushed down the toilet... CJ successfully covered her surprise at the female reporter's statement "You know what, Chris? I haven't seen Josh and Toby all day. As I said, they've been on the Hill all day discussing the trade bill, but I'll be sure to ask them when I see them. Okay, if that's it, that's a full lid." CJ didn't stay to hear if there really were any other questions from the White House Press Corps...

Josh and Toby ran down the halls of the west wing, praying that they would reach their offices before CJ found them. They were approaching the sanctuary of Josh's office when...

"Joshua Lyman! Tobias Ziegler! If you two don't stop right now, I swear to God, I'm gonna shoot ya!" CJ stormed over to the pair.

"Hey, CJ, how ya doin'?" Josh tried one of his charming smiles, but it didn't work

"You'd better wipe that smile off your face, Lyman!" threatened CJ and Josh did obediently.

"You know, that was a very maternal-esque statement, there" pointed out Toby

CJ turned on him "One more smart statement out of you, buddy, and I'm gonna do something so rotten I don't even know what it is yet!"

Toby shut his mouth.

CJ glared at both of them together now "Okay, now have you lost what is left of your minds?! What the hell possessed you to go beating up people at diners, for God's sake?! Did you even think of how that image would reflect on this administration?! And for that matter, what the hell possessed you to go beating up Ben?!"

Josh stared down at his shoes like they were the most amazing things on the face of the planet, while Toby looked in every possible direction, but at CJ.

"Well?! Do you have an answer?!" CJ yelled.

They both met CJ's angry gaze slowly. "Uh...Ceej..."started Josh nervously. "The reason we were beating up Ben was..."

"CJ, Ben's been cheating on you" Toby finished quietly.

The angry look fell off CJ's face and the men were faced with a blank expression. There was a long pause before CJ finally spoke "You honestly expect me to believe that?" CJ asked, many shades quieter than before "Why the hell would you make up some stupid lie like that? Did you think I would be less mad at you or something?"

"CJ, we both swear, we're not lying" Toby promised

"We saw her, CJ. We saw both of them together." tried Josh

CJ paused, but then shook her head "...No. No, he wouldn't do that. You are both extremely wrong. And even if you did make up that lie to try to make me less mad at you, it didn't work. Now, I'm mad at you for beating up Ben, I'm mad at you for embarrassing this administration with your stupid antics, and now I'm also mad at you for lying to me about it. You must have been mistaken on what you saw today, and you're gonna apologize to Ben." CJ made to leave, but turned back "And one more thing. I am really...really pissed at the both of you." CJ turned to walk back to her office.

"You're gonna get a call" Josh said quietly from behind her and she stopped and turned back to Josh and Toby

"What?"

"You're gonna get a call from Ben" Josh answered "He's gonna ask you to meet you somewhere and that's when he's gonna tell you he's been cheating"

CJ moved closer to the two men "And how do you know that?"

"We told him to" answered Toby miserably "We told him that he was going to tell you or by the end of the day, we would"

"But how would you know whether he called or not, unless..." she came to the correct conclusion a moment later "...unless you planted a spy named Donna in my office under the pretense of boredom, who would report back when he called"

"Well, the spy didn't necessarily have to be named Donna, but you got the rest of it right" muttered Toby under his breath

CJ chose to ignore that. "Why are you doing this?" she asked

"Doing what?" questioned Josh

"Butting yourselves into my business"

"Because...CJ...we're your friends. We don't want to see you get hurt" Josh tried desperately

CJ snorted in disgust "What the hell kind of friends would do something like this? Friends? What happened to 'concerned citizens?'" she mocked

"CJ..."

"And this hurts me more" CJ walked away, leaving the two men gaping in her wake.

CJ entered her own office where Donna was on the phone and Carol was turned to the computer. Donna got off the phone as CJ approached her "Hey CJ" she greeted "while you were at the briefing..."

"Party's over, Donna, get out" CJ interrupted bluntly

Donna stared up at her blankly "What?"

CJ placed one hand on the back of Donna's chair and leaned over the blonde woman "I said party's over. I know what Josh and Toby did and I know why you're really here. They lied to me, you lied to me, now get out"

"CJ, they're not lying..."

"Get out of my office, Donna"

Donna got up slowly and walked wordlessly out of CJ's office.

"What happened? What did Josh and Toby do?" Carol asked

"You remember Chris at the briefing saying that Josh and Toby were beating up Ben at some diner? Well, they did" CJ seethed

"What?!"

"And they made up some stupid lie that he was cheating on me, I mean, Ben wouldn't do that. Josh and Toby probably thought that if they came up with some elaborate excuse, then I wouldn't be mad at them or something..."

"CJ," Carol said quietly "have you ever given thought to the fact that Josh and Toby might not be lying"

CJ paused for a moment, staring at her assistant "Ben wouldn't do that" she said finally, but shakily

Carol stared back "For one, you know as well as I do that they wouldn't beat up anyone, never mind Ben, without a good reason and for another thing, even if they did, would they lie about something like that?"

"Because...because they thought I would be less mad at them..." CJ said desperately

"That's a dumb excuse and you know it"

The phone rang then and Carol picked it up "CJ Cregg's office" she paused a moment, pressed a button on the phone and hung it up "CJ...it's Ben" Carol whispered

CJ paled _'What if Josh and Toby weren't lying?'_ she thought to herself worriedly _'No, don't be stupid. You're being paranoid, CJ.'_ she tried to reassure herself, but it didn't work.

"I'll get it in my office" she told Carol. She closed the door behind her and raced to her desk. On one hand she was deathly afraid that Josh and Toby might be telling the truth and Ben was about to confirm her fears, but on the other hand, she was eagerly hoping to find that she was being paranoid and Ben was only calling to ask her to dinner or something. CJ picked up the phone on her desk. "Ben?" she said into it while sitting down on her chair and hoping her voice didn't give away her fears.

A moment of silence on the other end, then "CJ?"

"Yeah"

"Um...listen, can you meet me?"

CJ's heart jumped into her throat "Now?"

"Yeah..." more silence "...if that's okay with you"

"Yeah, now's fine. Where?"

"Dupont Circle Diner?"

More silence, but this time from CJ. Then finally "Is that where..."

"Yeah" Ben cut her off

"Ben," started CJ, forgetting her fears and remembering her anger at Josh and Toby "I really should..."

"No, can you just meet me now?" Ben cut her off again

"Sure. I'll be there in a minute"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey people! Here's the last chapter. Thanks to the two people who reviewed! And the reviews for the entire story, for that matter! As always, I apologize for the long delays between chapters, I'm a senior in high-school this year and I've been busy with the whole college application thing…then when I do go online, I keep reading everyone else's fics rather than update my own, bad habit of mine, entirely my fault. Well anyways, hope ya all enjoyed the story! I'm working on a few other _West Wing_ fics, so hopefully I'll get 'em up soon. Can't get rid of me that easily!

Oh and review! Reviews are what keep me writing!

Thanks!

-AEM

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CJ had been living in Washington DC for around 5 or so years, but she had never yet been to this diner. This and other entirely random thoughts filled her head on the drive to the Dupont Circle Diner. Fear could do that to you. She kept trying to tell herself to relax, but it didn't work _"Oh please, God, please don't turn my fears into reality." _She prayed _"I know I haven't prayed to you in a long time and this is a really shallow thing to pray for, but please let Josh and Toby be wrong. Let me be wrong." _She stopped praying to find herself in the parking lot of the diner. She parked her car in the front of the diner and looked out the windshield to find Ben a few feet away, leaning on the wall, watching the traffic. He didn't see her. Watching him, CJ remembered why she loved him. No…no…he wouldn't do something like that…he wouldn't cheat on her…no…it was impossible…

CJ stepped out of her car "Ben" she called. Ben looked up and studied her through two black eyes. CJ gasped and ran over to her boyfriend "Oh my god, Ben!" she put out her hands towards his face and had barely grazed it when he pulled away. "Josh and Toby did that right?" she said while putting her arms back down by her sides.

"Yeah" he couldn't meet her eyes, but she didn't notice "I'd rather not talk about it…"

"God, I am so pissed off at the both of them…"

"CJ..." tried Ben, but CJ wouldn't listen. Her anger had returned again and with it, brought this insane urge to keep talking

"I mean where the hell do they get off hitting you…"

"CJ, please let me talk…"

"…they had no right…"

"They had every right…"

"And…"CJ laughed suddenly, but it wasn't her usual laugh, it was a hollow laugh "You're never gonna believe this. This is what made me the maddest. They seemed to think, in the twisted way that those two idiots think, that if they said this, I would suddenly understand and everything would be all right. They lied and that's what pissed me off the most. They made up some stupid lie that you're…"

"CJ, I'm cheating on you"

"…cheating on…you're…what?" CJ whispered and she felt numb. As suddenly as the numbness came, it went away again, replaced by anger "You're WHAT?!"

Ben paled and took an unconscious step back towards the wall "Please CJ!" he pleaded "Please, let me explain!"

CJ glared and stepped towards him. He stepped back as far as he could go before ending up against the wall "Oh you'd better explain!"

"Okay," Ben took a deep breath "It all started after I left my wife…well, I guess it was before then because I was cheating on her with Lisa…o-kay wrong word…" he said as CJ took an angry breath through her nose. "Anyway, I'd left my wife and Lisa and I were together back in California when I got a promotion at work, but on one condition; that I would be transferred to DC. Now there was no way I could pass this up, but there was one problem. Lisa couldn't leave her job and she didn't want to be separated from me, so she told me if I took the promotion, we were over. But, again, I couldn't pass up this promotion, so I came out here. I'd actually forgotten you were out here too, until I caught one of your press briefings and I had to get in touch with you…"

"Nice to see you were so broken-hearted about Lisa" mumbled CJ

"…so I did and you know what happened…things just sort-of sprung off from there. But then a few weeks later, we're going good. I'm leaving your apartment and I get a call from Lisa. She's living in DC now, she feels horrible for what she did, she misses me and she wants us to get together. So, I meet her and I remember the feelings for her that I had forgotten after I had started to date you. But then, there was a problem. I still loved her and I still loved you. I loved you both and I knew I needed to pick, but I couldn't decide which one of you I loved more, so I decided to keep both of you until I decided which one I liked more. So this was a couple of months ago and things are going good with both you and Lisa and I still couldn't decide which one of you I liked better. I didn't want to lose either of you. Then Lisa starts talking marriage, so last week, I proposed, but I still was testing myself on which of you I liked better, so I suggested to you we move in together. You see I was hoping that if I do sort-of similar things with the both of you, then I could decide that way which of you I liked more. It didn't work. And then, I guess Josh and Toby made that decision finally for me" he sighed dramatically

"Lisa."

"Oh no. You see she was with me when your friends beat me up and the story came out, so she's not speaking to me at the moment" Ben said mildly

CJ stared at him "It's amazing…"

"What is?"

"You're still as self-involved as you were the when we dated back in college. I was hoping you had grown up a little since then, but I see I was wrong. You're still as childish as a schoolboy. You had the love of two women and all you can think of is how it affects you. You didn't give any consideration on what it may do to them. You didn't give any consideration to them period…to us…You acted like a complete jackass."

"And now you're gonna beat me up?" Ben prompted

CJ was quiet for a moment, "No. I'm not." She answered finally, quietly "That's too good for you. I let you explain yourself and what I got was a shallow response…"

"So, you forgive me?" interrupted Ben "That's great! Let's go out to dinner!"

CJ stared at him, disbelievingly "No! I don't love you anymore, I don't even like you anymore. I'm not not beating you up because I forgive you, I'm not not beating you up because that's the easy way out. Instead of hurting you, which I'd really like to do by the way, I'm gonna make you live with this. I'm gonna make you live with the fact you hurt Lisa and you hurt me and I hope one day you develop enough of a conscious that you begin to feel bad for what you've done. You're going to feel like the piece of shit you are and you're going to know there's nothing you can do about that because I don't want you to ever talk to me again. And that is a feeling that's going to last much longer that any physical pain I can put you in and that's exactly what you deserve. You deserve as much pain as humanly possible to make up for all of the pain you've cost me." CJ had been taking unconscious steps towards Ben during all this, and he had been backing fearfully and cowardly up so now he was against the wall, yet again, the same part of wall where Josh and Toby had delivered their ultimatum a few short hours ago. Now, she began to walk away, but then she turned back, taking something off her neck as she walked. She wordlessly handed him the love beads.

"What?" he took them a bit bemusedly "These were a gift, you're giving them back?"

"Yes. They were gift of love and you never should have given them to me. You didn't love me…"

"Yes I did…" Ben tried to insist

"No you didn't. If you did, you would have had no problem picking me over Lisa, or even Lisa over me, and you wouldn't have hurt me the way you did. You didn't love Lisa and you didn't love me, but I loved you. I loved you and I trusted you! I denied my friends for you because I didn't ever think you could do something like this to me…" CJ snorted "Apparently, I was wrong." She started to walk away, but she turned back yet again. Ben stared at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to speak, but she didn't say anything, she simply punched him in the jaw and walked away.

"Hey Tobe," Josh turned to his friend from his position on the couch. The two of were sitting in Toby's office, where they had gone after being severely chewed out by CJ and they had been there ever since. Josh lay on Toby's couch, his head on the side closest to the door. His legs were propped up on the arm of the couch, his own arm leaning on his head, which was now turned to Toby, who was sitting behind his desk, leaned back in his chair, his legs crossed, propped up on the desk. He was tossing his rubber stress ball lightly from hand to hand and throwing it against the window that separated his office from the now empty Deputy Communications Director's office once in a while, but not with the usual velocity, as his heart wasn't really into it for some reason today. Neither men had spoken a word to each other, or anyone else for that matter, since they had arrived in the office.

"Yeah…" Toby said quietly as he rolled the ball around on his desk

"Ya think we did the right thing? With CJ, I mean." Josh looked at him expectantly.

Toby looked up from the ball to meet Josh's eyes briefly, then went back to looking at the ball. "Yeah. I think we did the right thing. But we went about it the wrong way. The whole spy thing, that's where we messed up, and the ultimatum. That's what I think pissed off CJ more than anything."

Josh smiled faintly "Seemed like a good idea at the time"

Toby glanced over at him again and then went back to rolling the ball around.

The two men were quiet once more. Josh stared up at the ceiling as Toby alternated between rolling the ball around his desk and throwing it at the window whenever the mood struck him.

"Josh… Toby…" said a quiet voice from the doorway. Josh lowered his arm to peer around it at the figure in doorway as Toby, who had just aimed and thrown the ball at the window, completely missed it as it came back to him. It hit one of the pictures hanging on the wall behind Toby's desk and knocked the normally straight picture askew.

"CJ…" said Toby as he, in one fluid motion scooped the ball up off the floor to put it back on the corner of his desk and simultaneously stood up in surprise as Josh rolled up off the couch, not bothering to straighten his somewhat rumpled suit.

"Hey…" Josh greeted her, somewhat uneasily.

CJ moved into the office. She wasn't standing up quite as straight as she usually did and her eyes were a little bit red, but she had a determined, almost self-satisfied look on her face. "He _was_ cheating on me…" she said in a confused tone

"God…CJ…" Josh said sympathetically and moved to give her a hug.

Toby stood next to his desk surveying the scene with a glare meant for the man that had made CJ sad "Bastard…" he mumbled under his breath, making CJ laugh.

She pulled away from Josh and ran a hand over her eyes. "Listen, guys, I've gotta apologize…"

"No, it wasn't your fault…" started Josh, shaking his head, but CJ interrupted him

"No, I yelled at you guys…I yelled a lot…you were just trying to help me and I didn't believe you. I don't even know why I didn't believe you…I mean, God, you're my best friends and I chose to believe him, a guy who I knew a lifetime ago in college, over you guys…I'm not sure what the whole spy thing was about, but you guys were just trying to protect me and I just overreacted majorly. So, I'm sorry."

"We went about it badly with that whole spy thing" Josh explained "We thought it would be better if he told you…not let him take the easy way out and have us tell you. Except it didn't quite work out that way…"

"Not quite…"

"We also wanted you to have the chance to beat him up" Toby added brashly "Did you?"

CJ laughed an evil laugh "I punched him in the jaw right at the end…right after I told him he wasn't worth it…"she smirked "Couldn't resist"

"But the spy thing was just stupid…" continued Josh

"And your macho male egos got in the way when you gave him that ultimatum, I understand…" CJ joked and both Josh and Toby snorted. "Seriously, though, I appreciate it…This newfound protectiveness is sweet, just don't do it too often…" she warned

Josh smiled "Sure, CJ…you're like a sist…er…we care about you, we didn't want to see you get hurt"

CJ smiled too. She knew what he had wanted to say…" You know what, it's been such a crappy day…"

"Speak for yourself…" Toby mumbled as he glanced over at a picture of his twins, lying on his desk.

CJ grinned "Yes, Daddy. Anyway you guys doing anything right now?"

"Nah, we finished our thing and it's been kinda quiet otherwise" answered Josh

"Also 'cause everyone figured you'd kill us this afternoon" Toby deadpanned

CJ winced "Yeah, you guys forgive me for yelling at you in front of everyone?"

"'Course" shrugged Josh

"Like I care" added Toby

"Whaddya wanna do?" asked Josh

"You wanna go out for drinks?" CJ invited

"The place down the road?" asked Josh

"Where else?"

Josh and Toby picked up the suit jackets they had thrown off before and put them on. Toby put a few things into his briefcase and the three started to leave his office.

"I've just gotta pick up a few things in my office" said Josh

"Okay…hey, is Donna still around?"

"I think so, why?"

"I gotta apologize to her too…I yelled at her, I put her in the same category as I did you two and I didn't even give her a chance to explain…Let's bring her too"

"Okay"

"Hey, did you ever call Sam?" Toby asked

"Yeah" answered CJ

"How's he doing?" Josh perked up. He missed his old friend a lot, so he was always itching for news on him.

"He's good. He's having some trouble settling in, but he's happy"

"Good" grinned Josh.

Toby, CJ, and Josh walked past CJ's office and started walking down the hall towards Josh's.

"Man, I'm starving" Josh complained "We never had lunch"

"Yeah," Toby agreed "You know, I could really go for pie right now…"


End file.
